I have the same sense of the power and virtue of knowledge that some people get from a religious background.

In 15 years we'll have all the sequence, a list of the genes everyone has in common and those that differ among people. We know only something like a tenth of 1 percent of the sequence at the moment.

The interaction of the variation in our genes is what's responsible for lots of our attributes and vigor.

The community as a whole doesn't listen patiently to critics who adopt alternative viewpoints. Although the great lesson of history is that knowledge develops through the conflict of viewpoints.

Everyone wants a hand in the outcome, a piece of the knowledge.

It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you.

Three billion bases of DNA sequence can be put on a single compact disc and one will be able to pull a CD out of one's pocket and say, 'Here is a human being; it's me!'